Visual perception and its representation via the modality of seemingness in the novel “The Invisible Man” by H. G. Wells

Abstract

The article focuses on the language units expressing subjective modality of seemingness in the science fiction novel of the English author H. G. Wells. The article aims to identify the functioning of perception predicate within the modality of seemingness. The core of the category, modus verb “seem”, is being studied, including its syntactical combinability with the visual predicate. The scientific originality lies in describing the specific features of the modality of seemingness in the novel “The Invisible Man” by H. G. Wells. The study strives to identify the interconnection between the verbalization of modality in the text and the structure of the fictional world. The results have shown the modality of seemingness to be an indicator of potentially unreliable impressions of the observer due to the presence of inner or outer obstacles in the subject/channel/medium/object system. It is revealed that in the examined material the verb “seem” is frequent as part of complex sentences. Though it also introduces infinitive clauses, adjective complements, as well as functions as a part of introductory parenthetical phrases. The study proves that modality of seemingness is characteristic of descriptive passages in the fictional text. It is established that the modality of seemingness has a deep connection with the type of a narrator, the central conflict (society/individual), as well as with the key motifs essential for the plot ‒ invisibility and cognition.